Apple said today that Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, is resigning from Apple’s board of directors. Apple said the two companies businesses were beginning to overlap, which would limit Schmidt’s effectiveness on the board.
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“Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s board,” said Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, in a prepared statement.
Schmidt’s place on Apple’s board has become a point of contention as of late. In May of this year, Schmidt saw a government inquiry into his role on Apple’s board. In the past, Schmidt has said that he didn’t see any problem with his position on Google’s board, as he didn’t view Apple as a primary competitor to Google.
The news of Schmidt’s resignation comes amid an inquiry by the FCC to understand Apple’s recent rejection of Google’s iPhone application, Google Voice.
Meanwhile, Apple issued a patch on Friday to correct a vulnerability in the iPhone that allowed hackers to use SMS to disconnect the device from the cellular network. The problem was exposed during the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas last week.